


Common Threads

by PetitMinou



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Multi, Polyamory, Polydins, Trans Character, Trans Keith (Voltron), Voltron Fluff Week 2017
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-17 14:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10595853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetitMinou/pseuds/PetitMinou
Summary: In which Pidge is bad at feelings, and Lance is marginally better.





	1. Friendship Bracelets

**Author's Note:**

> It's...12:03 am I am NOT late. Technically. Okay maybe I'm late. Unedited and un-beta'd because I literally just finished it. My apologies.
> 
> Poly-paladins for voltron fluff week on tumblr! Yes it's eventual OT5, most chapters will focus on one particular relationship more than others. First up: Lance/Pidge. I'll put the chapter pairing in the notes for each one.
> 
> Also operating under the assumption that everyone is of legal age and standing, including Pidge. Rated T purely because of Pidge's potty mouth.

A year into their space voyage there are still rooms in the castle that haven’t been explored. It’s in one of those that Coran locates several balls of thread. “Space yarn?” Lance proposes, wrapping a deep blue strand around his finger. “It’s smoother than yarn, I guess, but it’s not like string.” He stretches it between spread hands, and his eyes light up. “Can I have it?”

Pidge is the one who happens to be hanging out with Keith in the lounge the next day when Lance bounds into the room. He doesn’t bother to explain as he vaults the couch and grabs the red paladin’s arm, rapidly tying off his handiwork. “What are you doing?” Keith asks, even as he stretches his arm out to allow better access. “Is this going to hit me with electric shocks whenever I try to fly or something?”

“You wound me.” Lance finishes his adjustments and leans back. “It’s a bracelet. People give them to people they like.”

Keith grunts, inspecting the bright red loop around his wrist. “Yeah, middle schoolers do.”

“If you don’t want it—“ Lance begins, reaching for his arm, which Keith immediately snatches back out of his reach.

“No, it’s mine! You gave it to me!”

Pidge can’t help the snort they let out from across the room. “I can’t believe you’re an actual literal meme.”

They receive a confused look from Keith, but Lance laughs out loud. “Oh don’t you worry, Pidgeon, I have one for you too.”

Evidently the fact that they don’t remove their hands from the keyboard is no deterrent. He simply wraps his fingers around their wrist to set the bracelet and ties it efficiently in place. They pause and look down to see a complex knotted cord of green string, sized perfectly and glowing the same exact shade as their lion and armor. “It’s soft.”

“Of course it is, I’m good at these things.” Lance looks incredibly pleased with himself. “I had to try it on Keith first to make sure I hadn’t lost my touch.”

The “hey” from Keith is warm with good humor, and Pidge glances between the two of them. Oh. So that’s where the wind is blowing now. If there was wind on a spaceship.

* * *

 

They all know that Lance is the glue that holds them together. There are some bonds that may be stronger, like Keith and Shiro connecting over physical training or Hunk and Pidge over technology, but Lance is the one that brings them all together as a team. The one who finds Pidge in whatever corner they fell asleep in and shoos them off to bed, or realizes that Shiro is working himself to exhaustion and starts a food fight over dinner.

That’s definitely why the bottom seems to drop out of Pidge’s stomach when Keith and Lance turn up to breakfast hand in hand, sporting matching red and blue striped bracelets on their left wrists. It’s not jealousy; they could swear it’s not jealousy. Something more like…disappointment?

Keith looks defiant and Lance is sporting his usual easy grin, but there’s tension in his shoulders. Pidge is the first to comment. “Matching bracelets, really? You two are gross.”

“I knew we could count on your support, Pidge.” Lance ruffles their hair on his way by, and they growl and jam an elbow backwards into his thigh, and everything is normal.

* * *

“I hate crushes,” Pidge grumbles at the drone currently spread out across their work bench. “I don’t like feeling things that I can’t control, and that I don’t want in the first place.”

“I don’t think anyone really likes having a crush,” Hunk points out reasonably, shoulders-deep in his own project across Green’s hangar. “Okay, no, there is Lance. He loves having crushes. But he’s weird like that.”

A wire sparks and they flinch away, dropping their pliers on the floor. “Typical,” they mutter, hanging off their stool to retrieve the tool. “This is so _stupid_. The last time I had a crush was Alysha in the ninth grade! How do people deal with this when they’re supposed to be adults?”

Hunk makes a noncommittal noise, poking at a box within his tangle of cables. “I’m sure it’ll work out fine. It must have worked out okay with that girl in high school, right?”

The only response they can make is an inelegant _snrk_. “Yeah, right. I accidentally touched her hand in Chemistry once and my palms were sweaty _all day_. But if that counts then sure, it worked out great.”

“…Oh.” That’s really all there is to say, and Hunk turns back to his own work. For about thirty seconds. “Wait, do you have a crush on an alien? Because that makes it a lot more complicated.”

Their face is burning, so they’re definitely blushing furiously, and they don’t correct Hunk’s delighted, “oooohhhh,” because _technically_ he’s not wrong. They just grunt and turn back to Rover 2.0, and swear when another spark bites their finger.

* * *

Has Lance always been this…flirtatious? With Keith, of course he was, but suddenly it feels like he’s using about half his charm on Keith (to great effect) and has decided to turn the rest on Pidge. Which can’t possibly be right, because they’re _Pidge_. They’re the team’s tech geek, the little sibling tagging along (despite the single year age difference), the sarcastic asshole who makes fun of his cheesy lines. And they brush it off the first few times, because that’s just Lance’s default mode of socialization.

“Hey, babe, are you the sky? ‘Cause I see stars in your eyes!” They groan and throw a wrench in his general direction, which he catches and flings precisely into the bin next to them. Jerk.

“Are you an overdue library book? ‘Cause you’ve got ‘fine’ written all over you.” That one is delivered in a whisper at the breakfast table, and they inhale a mouthful of goo.

“Are you an astronaut? ‘Cause your ass is—“

They point a vengeful screwdriver in his direction. “Before you finish that sentence, Keith better be right out of my sight.”

“What?” Keith pops his head in the door to the lounge. “Did someone say my name?”

Lance waves a lazy hand at him from where he’s leaning against the opposite wall. “Sorry babe, just Pidge being Pidge.”

Keith glances between the two of them, nods as if this explains everything, and walks away like his _terrible boyfriend_ isn’t currently freaking Pidge _right the fuck out._

* * *

“Okay, I am _done_.” They finally lose it during training, when Lance shoots down a drone that had been hovering over their head and then winks. They fling down their bayard, the effect rather diminished by the way it dematerializes before it hits the floor, and ignore the strained noise Keith makes as he blocks another shot aimed at their back. “I don’t know what’s going on with you but I am done with it!”

There’s a long silence, broken only when Shiro quietly shuts down the training sequence. Everyone stares at Pidge. Except for Hunk, who is squinting suspiciously at Lance. “Okay, clearly you guys need to sort something out,” Shiro says slowly, backing gingerly out of the line of fire. “You go outside and work it out before we restart.”

Pidge stalks out of the room, shoulders hunched defensively, curling in on themself even more when they see the way Lance reaches out to touch Keith’s hand on the way by. They don’t say anything as the doors slide shut, folding their arms and watching Lance out of the corner of their eyes. He actually looks contrite.

“Look, Pidge, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

They flinch, and in that instant their temper flares. “Making me uncomfortable?” they snarl, jabbing one finger into his stomach. “What about—what about Keith? What about…you’re…I don’t know what’s going on!” Their voice rises to a wail, and Lance looks a little bit panicked.  
“No, wait, Pidge, I’m sorry, I thought you were interested too so I—“

“ _You_.” They poke him again. “ _You_ are dating Keith, so it doesn’t matter what I do—wait. Interested? I don’t…” They trail off, processing what he said, and he reaches out gingerly.

“I’m sorry, Pidge, I’ll stop. I really didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Generally speaking, Lance is surprisingly good at hiding his emotions, but for a split second the mask slips and they can see genuine hurt in his eyes, and there’s a twinge of pain in their chest.

“I didn’t mean I’m not…interested,” they gesture helplessly, completely wrong-footed. “I mean, I might be, I’m not saying I am or I’m not but it doesn’t matter because you and Keith are together and you’re both happy and we’re a _team_ so I don’t want to do anything that could hurt either of you and now I’m just babbling and—“ they pause, inhale shakily, “and I’m going to my room. Tell Shiro we worked it out, I’m just tired.”

He doesn’t try to stop them as they walk away, and they can hear him sigh before he heads back into the training deck.

* * *

A week later and they’ve successfully managed to avoid ever being in a room alone with Lance, mainly by attaching themself to Hunk or Shiro whenever they have downtime. He seems to be avoiding them too, which is just fine by Pidge. It’s lucky they’re not called on to form Voltron in that time, because they’re not sure if any of them could concentrate well enough right now.

And then one morning Shiro and Keith wander into breakfast together, and Keith’s acquired another bracelet, this one with blue and red and black braided together. Pidge freezes mid-bite, and they can tell there’s goo dribbling from the corner of their mouth when Keith greets Lance with an affectionate shoulder bump before sitting down next to Shiro. Lance distractedly leans over to kiss his cheek before he returns to the discussion he’s been having with Hunk.

It’s obvious that nothing has changed between them, and Pidge drops their spork as they finally connect the dots. The clatter is what finally draws everyone’s attention, and they flush under four curious gazes.

“Is something wrong?” Shiro asks, and they’re a little offended by the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“No. Nope, everything’s just fine,” they mumble, retrieving their silverware and returning to their breakfast. “Everything’s _great_.”

They’re grateful when Lance wanders into Green’s hangar later that morning. They’ve been trying to come up with a way to apologize but they have no idea where to even begin. But they suppose it’s only fair when he doesn’t say anything, instead just leaning up against their workbench and waiting for them to lay down their pliers.

“So, Keith and Shiro?” they mutter, finally. They can’t look him in the eyes, instead focusing at a point above his right ear. They can still see the small smile on his face.

“Yep.”

They pick up a wire, tie it into a complex knot. “And, you and Keith?”

“Still yep.”

They’re shaking, which is ridiculous, they’ve been in much more dangerous situations than this without this kind of agitated buzzing in their nerves. “So you guys aren’t, like, exclusive then?”

“Nope.” He sounds even more cheerful than usual, and they wrinkle their nose at him.

“You know this is probably just about trauma bonding, right?” Their voice is a bit higher than usual, and they can’t seem to bring it down. “There’s only five humans out here and we’ve all been through some pretty fucked up stuff so it’s only natural that we’d start to develop—“

“Pidge.” They shut up, stand up from their chair and shift uneasily back and forth. “I don’t really care if it’s trauma bonding or whatever, but I’d like to hug you now. Is that okay?”

They let out a long breath, and nod. A second later they find themself half-tackled to the floor, laughing as Lance’s arms squeeze them so tight it’s hard to breathe. When they collapse backward with a laugh he lands on top of them, head pillowed on their chest. “Okay, okay, get off, you’re making me all sweaty.”

“Hmm. Don’t care.” He mutters against their shoulder, before he cranes his head back to look at them, smiling widely. “Hello there, pretty brown eyes.”

“Oh my god!” They slap a hand (gently) over his face, turning away as if that’ll hide their blush. “That’s disgusting. You’re disgusting! You disgust me.”

He cocks his head, one eyebrow raised over their fingers. “Stop?”

“No I didn’t…I mean…please don’t?” It comes out as a question, but the way his eyes crinkle in a smile and his lips against the palm of their hand is the perfect answer.

“Does that mean I can finally give you this then?” He wiggles one arm out from underneath them, digs in his pocket and comes up with a green and blue bracelet.

“You’re a sap,” they smile as they hold out their arm.


	2. Pillow Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith and Pidge make a good team, and Shiro finally gets a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kidge and Keith/Lance/Pidge this time! (Background sheith and klance).

It stands to reason that a castle would be meant to sleep hundreds or even thousands of people. And sparse as the paladin accommodations are, hundreds of similar rooms make for a lot of pillows.

More than enough pillows to fill the sunken lounge area waist-deep, and build barricades around the edges.

“I can’t believe you guys spent all day finding all of these,” Pidge comments, still hovering cautiously around the edge and avoiding Hunk’s carefully constructed stacks.

Lance explodes out of the center of the pool, cushions flying everywhere as he collapses back onto the surface. “You’re just jealous that you didn’t think of it first.”

There’s a whine from the other side of the couch, and Keith shoves a pillow off his head. “Don’t smother me, c’mon.” He returns to his previous position, sprawled half over and half under the pillows, bonelessly-limp as a contented cat. “This is pretty nice, Pidge, definitely a good way to spend downtime.”

While they were preoccupied with Keith, Lance managed to wade and stagger his way over to the edge, and before they look down again his arms are flung around their waist. They barely have time to shriek before they’re bodily lifted off the ground and tossed into the middle of the pile. “What the _fuck_ , Lance?” They flail, barely finding purchase before they launch across at him. He laughingly retreats, tripping backwards and kicking pillows in their direction.

It’s Keith that becomes their unexpected ally, going from languid to alert in a split second and bringing a pillow down on Lance’s head. Hunk crows, “pillow fight!” and Pidge barely gets a shield up in time to block his attack.

Within minutes the battle lines are drawn, each side crouched behind a fortress of downy stuffing. It hasn’t progressed much beyond trash talk and a few half-hearted missiles by the time Shiro wanders into the room. He takes in the two walls, the sea of pillows between them, and raises his hands in helpless confusion.

Lance has no such hesitance. “Shiro’s on our team!” he bellows.

“Hey! He’s _my_ boyfriend!”

Shiro glances between Lance, who’s sticking his tongue out, and Keith’s wide eyes. After a second of decision he launches himself into Lance and Hunk’s mound of ammunition and sends two pillows thumping into Keith and Pidge’s wall.

“Traitor!” Keith yells over the top, then ducks down to avoid more projectiles. He twists his fingers in the cases of two pillows, shoots them a wild smile that they return in kind. “Let’s get ‘em!”

Their daring frontal assault (accompanied by appropriate blood-curdling battlecries) is cut short. Shiro simply lifts Pidge off the ground and holds them at arms' reach, heedless of the pillows that batter at his head. Lance tickles Keith into submission. Hunk feverishly repairs the gap in their wall. It takes a long several moments before Keith’s flailing results in a solid kick to Lance’s stomach, and the defeated parties are released to slink back to their fort to lick their wounded pride.

“So that was dumb,” Pidge grumbles, watching the victors high-five and congratulate each other.

“They cheated, doesn’t count,” Keith grunts into the pillows he’s collapsed face down onto. “They need to fight us fair and square.”

A glance at the other fort reveals Lance is hard at work building himself a squishy throne, while Shiro’s on his front, Hunk straddling his waist and massaging his back. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

To his credit, the huff Keith lets out when they flop across his back is barely audible. “Okay, you’re warm, but bony. Move.”

Groaning, they start to comply, but then Keith rolls over and they’re enveloped in a warm embrace, Keith’s nose in their hair and legs tangled together. “There, human blanket.”

Pidge grumbles good-naturedly, shifting to find a comfortable position against him and craning their neck back to look him in the eyes. “I feel so used.” They lean forward, rub their nose against his teasingly.

His breath hitches, just a bit, just enough to give them the confidence to shift over a little so everything is warm mingling breath and shaky heartbeat in their ears. Keith is the one who closes the gap, lips light against theirs until they respond with a sharp exhale and both hands tangling in his hair.

It’s quickly clear that Keith kisses a little bit sloppy and a lot enthusiastic, Pidge losing their breath to the weight of warmth in their chest. Finally they pull away, gasping just a little, and tuck their head under his chin instead.

“Hang on, am I missing the one time a week that Pidge feels affectionate?” Lance flops down against Keith’s side, and because they’re giddy and flushed and happy they lean over and kiss him too. Lance’s lips are softer, much softer, and his kisses slower, but no less loving. Keith’s hand strokes up and down their back as they sigh and ease back down.

There’s liquid warmth running through their veins, extending to the end of every limb as they watch the way Lance’s fingers run gently through Keith’s hair, and the way Keith leans into his touch. They’re about to fall asleep from sheer contentment, unable to remember the last time they were this happy, when their gaze happens to fall on the pair across the room.

At some point the massage has turned into spooning, Shiro limply asleep against Hunk’s front. His face is slack, mouth hanging open, and he’s definitely drooling a bit on Hunk’s arm. “Guys, don’t look now, but I think our fearless leader is melting.”


	3. Sleepovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro has nightmares and Keith is there to comfort him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Sheith this time. Have some light angst.

Keith almost never spends his nights in his own room anymore.  About half the time he sleeps in the room Pidge and Lance now share, tucked between the two of them and basking in their combined warmth.  However, even touch-starved as he is, he can’t always take that much closeness.  So he spends the rest of the time with Shiro.

Generally, Shiro isn’t a cuddler in his sleep.  Even if they drift off in a tangle, sooner or later Shiro will grumble something about being too hot and roll over to the other side of the bed.  Keith’s such a light sleeper he still wakes up whenever Shiro mutters something in his dreams, but it’s far easier to deal with when he’s a couple feet away.

Tonight Keith can’t sleep in the first place.  He fingers the newest bracelet from Lance, red and blue and black and green twined together.  It can’t weigh more than a couple grams, but the new weight on his wrist takes some getting used to.  He twists and turns over with a huff, tucks the arm under his side, and squints across at Shiro’s back.

Shiro is a quiet sleeper; he doesn’t kick like Pidge or roll around like Lance.  The most that’s noticeable is the twitching of his limbs, in the grip of some deep dream.  Tonight he seems more active than usual, fingers clenching and releasing under his neck and his back tense.  Keith watches him for several minutes, clawing his way out of the half-asleep state he’d fallen into.

Something’s not right.  He wavers on the thought of waking him, knowing that Shiro doesn’t get half as much sleep as he should.  But then Shiro lets out a moan like something dying, and it’s no longer a choice.

“Shiro?”  He doesn’t touch him, never does if he doesn’t have to.  “Shiro, wake up, you’re dreaming.”  It’s also best not to lean over him.  “Shiro?” Just calling his name doesn’t seem to be working, and finally he lays his hand lightly against Shiro’s side.

With a strangled gasping noise Shiro launches upright, eyes wide and unfocused in the dark.  Keith gives him a second, long enough to re-orient himself, before he tries again.  “Shiro?  You okay?”

It has the exact opposite effect from what he wanted, as Shiro launches himself away with a cry, tumbling off the side of the bed.  He lands seated on the floor, whimpering, clawing at his right arm.  “No, no, no, no Keith, no…”

This is beyond anything Keith’s seen, and he’s not sure how to react.  But there’s blood beading at the joint between Shiro’s flesh and the Galra arm, and he no longer has time to panic.  “Hey, hey Shiro, stop that!”

His uncoordinated flop off the bed plops him straight into Shiro’s lap, where he can use his body to block him from doing any further damage.  “Hey, Shiro, please look at me?”

In the end he gently cups Shiro’s face in both his hands, and when Shiro closes his eyes he leans in to press lips against his cheek.  “Shiro, I’m here.  I’m with you.  I’ll always be here with you.”

Shiro shakes his head, and there’s the wetness of tears on the end of Keith’s nose.  “You should…you should leave, Keith”

“No!”  He recoils instinctively, and when hurt flashes across Shiro’s face he rocks right back forward to tuck his face into the crook of his neck.  “I’m not leaving.  I’m not ever leaving.  Why would I leave you?”

Shiro lets out a laugh, a mirthless laugh that sounds like it tears at his throat.  “Because I’m a monster?  I might…hurt you.  This…thing might hurt you.”

The twitch of his mechanical arm leaves no doubt as to what he means, and he gives a half-hearted shove at Keith’s hip. Keith responds by holding on tighter.  “No, you wouldn’t.  I know you wouldn’t.  I trust you, Shiro.”

The noise he gets in reply sounds disbelieving, and he leans back to look him in the eye.  “I’m part Galra.  Does that make me a monster?”

“What?  No!  Keith, of course not, I don’t—“

“So,” Keith covers his mouth with a finger, effectively silencing him, “why would you think a part of you could make you a monster?  It doesn’t matter who made it.  Nothing that you can do could make me leave, understand?”

Shiro shivers against him, finally relaxing enough to rest his head against Keith’s shoulder.  “That’s what I dream about, you know,” he mumbles into Keith’s shirt.  “About hurting you, or Lance, or Hunk, or Pidge, and knowing that I’m doing it but I can’t stop and I can’t look away—“

He’s working himself into a breakdown again, and Keith does the same thing Shiro always did for him, back in their days at the Garrison.  Resting his forehead against Shiro’s, he breathes deep and exaggerated, counting inhales through his nose and exhales through his mouth.  There’s a muffled, wet laugh when Shiro realizes what he’s doing, but he matches his breaths on his next inhale.  Gradually his trembling eases, his muscles slowly loosening against Keith’s hold.

“Look at this,” Keith whispers when he’s calm again.  He draws Shiro’s left arm into his lap and runs his finger under Shiro’s own bracelet, under silky red and black and yellow.  “This is proof.  I love you, and Hunk loves you, and I know Lance and Pidge love you.  And every single one of us would trust you with our lives.  Every part of you.”

When Shiro hesitates Keith twists in his lap, grabs his right hand in both of his own, and presses his lips to the smooth metal.  “I know you can feel that, and I know you won’t ever hurt me.”

Finally all the fight seems to go out of Shiro, and with a tremulous chuckle he draws Keith into a rib-creaking hug.  “I thought I was the sappy one.”

“I’m allowed to have my moments.”  Keith smiles against the top of his lover’s head.


	4. Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the team introduce the Alteans to human film and Keith and Pidge have a bonding moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gen fic this time, just trans kids making fun of gender and body parts.
> 
> Just a note: I'm trans and deal with body dysphoria. I know it's a serious topic but tbh we have enough of trans kids angsting over their bodies, and not enough trans kids joking around and having fun.

The first time they do a movie night they watch an Altean comedy. It’s immediately clear that humor is not a thing that transcends species boundaries. The lions can translate the words for them but can’t give them any context. Coran and Allura are roaring with laughter, clutching their stomachs, while the paladins shoot puzzled glances at each other over the Alteans’ heads.

Next they try a romance. And discover that romantic tropes _do_ transcend every possible boundary. “If you guys would just _talk_ to each other all of this could have been avoided!” Lance yells at the screen an hour in. No one shushes him. Everyone agrees that the ending is trite and unrealistic. Allura confesses in a horrified whisper that it was her favorite film as a child, and she’d never realized just how _bad_ it was.

A week later Pidge manages to rig up an adaptor that runs between a smartphone and the castle’s screens. They, Keith, Hunk, and Lance had their phones on them when the blue lion kidnapped them from Earth. They may not get wifi on the other end of the universe, but most of them had _something_ downloaded.

Lance has several episodes from a middle season of an old sitcom, which greatly entertain him and Hunk, but no one else really gets it. Pidge has a collection of BBC nature documentaries and some History Channel shows. Hunk is overjoyed when he gets to watch several episodes of Cutthroat Kitchen on a big screen again.

None of them have anything that could be classified as a movie.

At first it doesn’t occur to Pidge to ask Keith. He’s lived in a shack in the desert without wifi for a year, after all. Honestly, if they’d taken a moment to think about it, they’d have realized this made him the most likely one to have downloaded films.

“Yeah, hang on,” he mutters on their next movie night, squinting at the spiderweb of cracks that passes for his phone screen. “I have Avatar on here somewhere.”

“What, as in ‘the last airbender’? Awesome!” Lance flops into Hunk’s lap and kicks his feet excitedly.

Keith shrugs as he continues poking at his phone. “No, no, not the cartoon one. I wish I had that.”

“Wait, tell me it’s not that mess of a live action remake.” Pidge leans against his side, trying to read what he’s doing. “I swear, if I hear one ‘ahhh-vatar’ I’m out.”

That gets them a laugh. “Oh my god, no. The other movie. The one with the aliens? The blue ones?”

“I really hope you didn’t spend money on it,” Lance mutters after an awkward silence.

Keith shoots him a scowl that clearly says _who do you think you’re talking to_? “I know it’s not the best movie, but I like it. The colors are pretty.”

“That’s our Keith. Motivated only by the deepest and most complex desires known to man. Like pretty colors.”

Pidge and Hunk laugh, while Keith pauses for a moment to obviously scan the area for throwable objects. Finding none, he shrugs off the comment and returns to his phone.

“It’s been a long time since I got to watch a movie. A real one I mean.” Shiro seats himself next to Hunk and shoots a smile at Keith. “This’ll be fun.”

It is fun, way more fun than a good movie would have been. There’s quite a bit of yelling at the screen involved, and occasional flung snacks. Everyone cheers when Sigourney Weaver shows up, Lance and Pidge loudest of all. Allura and Coran are fascinated by the concept of avatars and spend several minutes debating whether Altean technology could create such things. Lance and Hunk vocally judge the main character’s life choices. It’s when they make it to the World’s Most Awkward Sex Scene that the conversation turns to the Na’vi themselves.

“Okay, you’re telling me that this completely alien species not only has the same shitty gender binary as humans, they have the same shitty gender roles too?” Pidge grumps at the screen. They squirm in their position in Keith’s lap and drown out the ‘choose a woman’ line with a loud raspberry. “Like, come on people, there’s so many ways you could have taken this but you went with the most boring one possible.”

“I wonder if the Na’vi have their own ideas of gender, but the humans invaded the planet and declared that anything with boobies is clearly female,” Keith suggests, shifting his thigh when a sharp elbow digs into it in the course of Pidge’s wiggling.

Quiet resumes as everyone ponders that possibility. It doesn’t last for long. “But that’s the other thing. Everything on the planet has six or more legs,” Pidge points out. “Are the Na’vi from a completely different evolutionary line from _everything else on the planet_? And the horses and everything else have chest vents for breathing, but the Na’vi don’t. What is going on on that planet?”

Lance sighs, flops backwards across Shiro’s legs to look up at them. “Well, Pidgey, if they had chest vents there’d be nowhere for them to put the cat alien boobies, and where would we be then? Without cat alien boobies we have nothing!”

They snort and go back to watching the movie. About ten minutes later, during one of the most serious scenes of the movie, Keith suddenly jolts upright and clutches at his own chest. “Oh no, oh no! I should never have gotten top surgery! I have no cat alien boobies!” He looks up at them all, eyes wide, bottom lip trembling. “ _I’m a defective cat alien._ ”

Silence reigns for approximately two seconds, then Pidge snorts space juice out their nose. Then both they and Keith are laughing, so hard that they curl into a tangle of limbs and can’t quite manage to inhale between the bursts of giggles. The others laugh too, Allura and Coran rather stiffly and too-politely, but the pair at the end of the couch are totally lost to mirth. They keep settling, then making eye contact with each other and exploding into another fit. It’s well into the final battle scene before they actually calm down, Keith collapsed limply against the arm of the couch and Pidge slumped on the floor.

“So, that was funny, but I dunno if it was _that_ funny,” Lance mutters.

"Told you guys Galra Keith makes jokes," Hunk whispers.


End file.
